


The First Window Sill

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: House of Cards (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:33:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2411762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What are you doing in a dormitory stairwell at who goddamn knows o’clock if not to meet me?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Window Sill

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for a friend after we talked about how someone should right the epic love opus for this couple.

“Smoking a cigarette without me, now that’s not very nice.”

He looked down at the girl standing at the bottom of the stairs. She was cute, blonde, and obviously believed herself to be cheeky; he didn’t recognize her. He went back to looking out the window.

“Do I know you?” he took a deep inhale of the cigarette.

“Of course you do.” She climbed the stairs and came to stand beside him. It was late, or early depending on how you looked at it. The dormitory stairwell was empty except for the two of them. Smoking was forbidden but it wouldn’t be the first time she did something against the rules. 

Carefully, she approached him, standing behind his right shoulder. Her arm reached around him and took the cigarette from between his fingers. He let her. She inhaled and then sighed. “You met me once upon a dream. I'm sure it was you.”

“Are you high?” now he glanced back at her.

“I am now.” She returned the cigarette. “I've been cigarette free for 13 days and you just helped me fix that problem.”

“Far be it for me to drag a woman back into the depths of hell.”

“I don't know, might be kind of fun if we went together. Are you sharing the beer too?”

“I just got over a wicked case of mono.” He replied, not entirely sure why he would reveal something like that.

“100% over?”

“According to my doctor, yes.”

“So I’ll ask again…are you sharing the beer too?”

“Give me your name and I’ll give you the beer.” He picked up the Miller High Life from the windowsill.

“Claire.” She took it before he could hand it over.

“I'm…”

“Francis. You're Francis Underwood.”

“Does my reputation precede me?” he asked.

“It does.” She nodded and took a drink.

“Yours does not.” He smoked and actually passed it back to her.

“And I think you need someone like that in your life.”

“What if I told you that I didn’t like girls?”

“I'm not overly fond of them either.” Claire replied. “What are you doing in a dormitory stairwell at who goddamn knows o’clock if not to meet me?”

“I'm beginning to wonder the same.” He took the cigarette. It was done but he had another. Frank could end this now and walk away. He wasn’t exactly the type to stop a story in the middle, especially if it piqued his curiosity. “No one calls me Francis except for my mother.”

“My mother called me Peanut for a while. It made me want to smash her face in.”

He turned and looked at her. A smile crossed his lips. He was imagining little Claire, no more than four or five, with a baseball bat in hand ready to kill. It was cute.

“Do you want another?” he asked.

“I do.” She sat down on the windowsill facing him now. 

It was pouring out but the dampness felt good on the back of her blouse. All she had to do was lean back and it was lights out…they were up on the sixth floor. Something in her belly told her Francis wouldn’t let her fall. Even if he was the one who pushed her, he wouldn’t let her fall.

***


End file.
